Huggies® Little Swimmers®  has joined forces with Charlene Hutsebaut, a leading expert in pre and post pregnancy fitness to give you the inside knowledge of how baby swimming can make you not only feel great but help your shape too!

Exercise One: Baby Dips

This exercise is very common in mother and baby pool classes and it focuses on the experience of the baby. It will work your leg, abdominal, arm and shoulder muscles. Here are the steps to follow:

• Stand in the pool with some room to move, have your feet about a shoulder's width apart and bend your knees slightly for safety
• Hold your baby in a "face to face hold" with your hands under your baby's armpits and your thumbs wrapped around their shoulders
• Make sure you feel stable and balanced before you start
• Bend your knees slightly into a squat, perhaps staying a bit higher than you would without the baby
• As you come out of the baby dip movement stand yourself up again to a neutral, straight position
• If you do want to do more repetitions do the squats without dipping the baby's face into the water. You can make it into a game with them by singing a song of your choice and looking into their eyes as you move through the squats, never allowing the baby to go below neck level
• Repeat this movement only as many times as is safe for your baby. You will be working to the level of the baby and their tolerance or enjoyment of the water

Exercise Two: Baby Back Rotations

This exercise is excellent for back mobility/toning, abdominal strengthening/toning and general muscle toning of upper body muscles.  Here are the steps to follow:

• Stand in the pool with some room to move, have your feet about a shoulder's width apart with your knees slightly bent for safety and stability
• Hold your baby in a "face to face hold" with your hands under your baby's armpits and your thumbs wrapped around their shoulders
• Make sure you feel stable and balanced before you start
• Bend your elbows to a 90 degree angle or more while holding the baby a bit in the water looking into their eyes
• Breathe in to prepare, then on a breath out, twist to the left and rotate your body around your spinal column like there is a pole down your back
• You should imagine you have a copper coil around your mid section from your rib cage down to your hip bones - you  are moving with this coil as it turns you, these are in fact your abdominal muscles as a unit twisting you
• Breath in and twist to your right
• Continue moving and add your pelvic floor squeezes as often as possible and also keep your shoulder blades retracted and down
• Keep your elbows just at your sides so the arms move with your torso as a unit
• Repeat this movement pattern 10-20 times depending on how you and the baby feels

Exercise Three: Baby Shoulder presses

This exercise will help tone your shoulders, arms and core unit muscles.  The fun with this one is that it is a move that most children love....being pushed up gently into the air and being brought back down.  In the pool it's even better as they will raise out of the water and then slide back in.  Make sure you check the comfort of your baby with the temperature changes being in and out of the water.  Here are the steps to follow:

• Stand in the pool with some room to move, have your feet about a shoulder's width apart with your knees slightly bent for safety
• Make sure you are in your "stability position" before you start
• Hold your baby in a "face to face hold" - hands under the baby's armpits with your thumbs wrapped around his/her shoulders
• Breathe out as you gently lift your baby out of the water, bringing your arms just forward and above your shoulders - this will work your shoulder muscles and your biceps on the front of your arm
• Breathe in as you lower your baby back into the water

Repeat this exercise around 5-20 times depending on how you feel and how the baby is responding.